Davo update

Hi everyone,

I thought I would let you know some news about Davo. As you know, Davo is terminally will with his form of leukaemia (CML) because with 2 - sadly failed - bone marrow transplants and endless amounts of chemo behind him, the leukaemia will not stay in remission. Davo has been on a last form of treatment - a chemo drug called Velban and there was a good chance that would give him a few extra years.

Unfortunately, the Velban is causing so many other problems and the indications are that it may not be holding back the blast cells as much as needed. Davo has suffered numerous setbacks due to his treatment and at the moment, he is still unable to use his legs because of previous infections.

He has come to an important decision in that he would not like to continue the chemo drug any more.

Please read Davo's thoughts in his own words here:
http://davidthewicked.blogspot.com

I am sure he would love to receive any comments!

I am behind Davo 100% and think he has made an incredibly courageous decision that involves not only himself but his parents and brother too. Quality of life is critical when you have a terminal illness or are battling any other serious condition.

Davo is coming over to stay with us in May when we are having a BBQ for those of us in the support group we're part of and also we bought tickets a few months ago for his fave band Pearl Jam! That's happening in June and we're counting down the days!!!

Love Soph x

A Big Welcome to .....

.... little sis Sophie.

I am hoping that Soph will keep us up to date with the comings and goings of David, Rachel and any other recipients of the quilts who she is in contact with.

Quilts 5, 6 and 7

will be going here,

here

and here.

Viks, one of the Post Pals team contacted me recently and asked me if I would make quilts for Jack, Chloe and Jacob.

As I now have 4.5 quilts to make up I am going to call a halt to the quilt donations for the time being.

That doesn't mean a halt to the blocks too. Keep them coming!

Carmiña's Block

All the way from sunny Spain- isn't it gorgeous!

More Blocks

These are Sandra's blocks. They haven't arrived here yet, but are on their way, together with un petit cadeau (can't wait!)


And these have been sent to me by Teodolinda in Italy

I think they are gorgeous and will certainly feature in Kezia's quilt.

Quilt Number 4

Somewhere in Africa is Angus and the rest of his family is in Manchester. This is because his 3 year old daughter, Kezia, has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

Kezia's mother, Nandia, can hardly speak English, but Kezia can, and her brother, Jamie, is learning fast.

This little girl will be the recipient of the 4th quilt.

Rachel

I have just been catching up on Sophie and Rachel's progress (Sophie is eating for Shropshire!) and noticed that Rachel's Mum has mentioned us.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Rachel's Quilt

Nearly there - just the basting, backing and tying to do.

This one was a bit awkward to piece together. There are some blocks that are a lot bigger than 8.5 inches and it seems such a shame to cut them down so I left them, hence the not quite true middle row. Hideko's tiny log cabin block is so gorgeous I wanted it to form the centre piece. Originally I wanted to put in her other block, but Alex quite rightly pointed out that this is going to be a utility quilt and the beading might come off over time.

Ok, blocks - left to right starting from the top.

Anne, Tracey, Dianne, Serena
Simonetta, Nicole, Julianne, Bea
Debbi, Hideko, Joyce
Jenni, Veronica, Hedgehog, Tazzie
Anne, Hedgehog, Brigette, Fiona

Now if Blogger will play nicely I might be able to upload the photo.

Wanted. Another Co-Ordinator

Is there anyone out there who would be willing to help me co-ordinate this. I am getting swamped and I have a funny feeling that this is going to run and run.

What is involved?

Perhaps you would like to search for people to gift the quilts to?

Perhaps you might know of people in other parts of the world who would be willing to make up some blocks?

Perhaps you would like to make up the quilts?

Email me if you are interested.

Sophie's Quilt

Please click on the image to read the full article.

This morning I received an email from a lady living in Shropshire, UK who had read an article about us and Sophie in her local paper. She very kindly sent me the article over the air waves and is also going to make some blocks for us. So Bobby - welcome to Quilts 4 Leukaemia.

Sorry it isn't that good. I had to save it as a PDF, print it and scan back into the computer as a JPEG image!

Next Quilt

Somewhere in Leicestershire, UK is a little girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia on 11th February 2005 - she was just 4 years old.

Rachel is now 6 and is determined to fight.

I quote from an email I have received from Rachel's mother.

"Rachel's main characteristic since being diagnosed is a stoic refusal to acknowledge that she is unwell, or that she is in any way different from any other child. She NEVER complains, eg today a school friend is having her birthday party which is a swimming party - she has gone to watch everyone else swim (she can't swim because of her hickman line) and to join them for the birthday tea afterwards. Not once has she moaned, complained or been downhearted, it's just how it is, and she gets on with it. She can't actually remember not having leukaemia now. We try to treat her the same as our other daughter, and we don't make a particular fuss of her - which might sound a bit harsh but we think it makes it easier for her, and certainly she is a happy, bubbly little girl of whom we are very proud. It is just unthinkable that she won't beat this disease, but it will be April 2010 before we know if she has or not, so we hope to give our children lots of happy times between now and then, because just don't know what is ahead."

So this is where the next quilt is going.

You can follow Rachel's progress by clicking on this link here.

Onto Sophie. Please continue to support her by leaving comments on her blog. She is going through a pretty rough time at the moment.

Again - thanks to all of you for your support and help for this worthwhile cause. These kids have a got a long way to go.

As I said to Sophie, every time she cuddles her quilt everyone who helped make it will be thinking of her.

Sophie!

Sophie has her quilt - it arrived yesterday just in time to keep her warm when she had her platelets.